Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A more thorough review - Electrical Quirks / Cosmetics

Electrical quirks:

The car has had an aftermarket stereo at some point, probably in the mid to late 90's but something isn't right there.

It has some high end components. Specifically a Nakamichi MB-100 6 disc in dash cd changer, and a soundstream rubicon amplifier in the trunk, but it isn't connected properly. The radio is connected to constant power, and will stay on unless you remove the detachable faceplate, regardless of if the ignition is on or not.

Secondly the drivers speaker makes some sort of intermittent thumping sound. I do not know if they are aftermarket or not. That may need a going over - and possibly a swap to a more modern aftermarket radio. Mp3 / ipod capability would be nice.

Lastly - the power locks ONLY operate from the trunk lock cylinder. All door handles flash red or green to indicate status, and the doors do actually lock and unlock. BUT it will only lock / unlock from the trunk lock. The key will turn the door lock cylinders, but it will not actuate the locks from the doors. Any ideas here?? I haven't tried the keyless entry because a couple of the 357 batteries are missing from the remote key. Do these keys need programming, or should just putting batteries in it do the trick??

Exterior cosmetics:

The car is in remarkably good shape exterior wise, although the paint seems a bit dull and has contaminants on it at the moment. It's obvious it sat outside for a while. A good wash / wax and then we'll see, it may need some machine polish work.

Were 1990 R129's basecoat / clearcoat or single stage?

Headlight doors I guess they are called... The frames around the headlights, show their age and have gotten cloudy and faded. The passenger side has a crack / chip in it that looks like it got friendly with a rock.

I know this seems like a long list, but really the car isn't that bad.. I'm very particular and described every flaw that I could possibly come up with.